Guardian Angel
by Lonely Parasol
Summary: When Ash is reminded of her sister, it triggers an onslaught of memories she's fought hard to repress. Who will be there to wake her up from this nightmare?


Disclaimer - no, I do not own Green Angel, in case yah didn't know...

Inspired by several songs by The Fray, and some other piano acoustics that help quiet the voices in my mind.

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Guardian Angel

It began with a dream. Dreaming came spontaneously for Ash, because she worked herself so hard every day that by nightfall, after inking more bats and roses on her body, after shedding her father's thorn covered jacket and her heavy nail boots, when she finally crawled into bed and bundled up tight she was out before her head touched her pillow. She was too tired to dream.

That was until Diamond had joined her in this world of misery. Before him, pain had no meaning. It was natural, a reflex that got her though each day. Going without made her feel rotten – she didn't deserve to live in comfort. Like an addict without their fix. Things like collecting stones and dipping her pins and needles in black ink were all but second nature to her now. Both habits that were impossible to break.

She was Ash, the girl who would never grow straight, who would never walk in the morning sunlight.

One cloudless night she experienced her first dream in months, so vivid and beautiful that she was powerless to stop it. The intensity of the onslaught of memories caught her offguard, and she _remembered_.

‡†

_Sister...sister, where are you? _

A small, childlike figure cloaked in moonlight shone through the vast wasteland of darkness. They were blurred around the edges, and floated leisurely in place, pale feet never touching the ground. As they came closer, Ash saw more feminine details, a dress of rich white satin that billowed below the waist, and long untamed blonde hair that fell gracefully past her knees.

She was a ghost girl, calling for someone too far gone to answer her cries.

_Aurora_, she whispered, though her lips could not form the name. A tight knot rose in her throat, and her face flushed as she tried again.

_Aurora...Aurora!_ she cried, desperately forcing her mouth to move, but she emitted no sound. She was mute, and darkness was enfolding around her as girl and moonlight receded as one. _Aurora!_

The glowing figure turned her head, and stared into Ash's brooding eyes. She smiled sadly, _I will never leave you,_ the whisper tickled her ear, though she was far away and her lips never moved.

Her sister was disappearing before her eyes, and Ash could not bear to watch, _Come back! Please, come back...Aurora... _

She responded with one word, a promise, _Always... _

‡†

"Aurora..." she felt herself waken, wincing at the stiffness of her limbs, deadened by cold and sleep. She turned her head, trying to restore the numbness sleep had granted her, only for her forehead to brush cool, calloused fingers. The fingers stroked her cheek, raising the fine hairs on her raw, delicate flesh.

She didn't want to open her eyes, because in darkness there was a false sense of safety, one of pretend security that the outside world had all but forbade since the fire. To open her eyes would mean shattering the illusion of peace she could find nowhere else.

But Ash found it difficult to ignore the soft caresses those familiar hands made as they moved over the unexplored plains of her body, gliding across her shoulder blades and down her backside in unhurried circular motions. His touch was warm and inviting, which also made it impossible for her body to stay completely still as everything came alive under his attentions.

She tried to hold it in, but couldn't. She had wanted to cry earlier, when she was busy inking herself. But no tears came as she poured her heart and anger and despair into her drawings. Now the sorrow and frustration boiling thickly in her veins escaped with a sigh and a single crystalline tear. The drop rolled down her flushed cheeks, until one of his fingers stopped it.

Ash heard him shift nearer, despite the surreal haze that veiled her mind. A beat later the softest pressure wet her cheek where the tear had fallen. It wouldn't be for weeks after until she discovered it to be a kiss.

She stirred at last, the gesture rousing her from her state of comatose. Her head tilted upward, and she looked into the hooded face of her friend. The only one who understood, the only one left that knew her secret. Her Diamond...

She pushed herself weakly up on one side and slipped into his open arms, placing her head in the crook of his neck. Her hands fisted around the creases of his dark smoke smelling jacket, attaching herself to him as though he was her lifeline, precious oxygen in a mysterious underwater world. Without him she would drown in her memories, slip down into unconsciousness, and never see dawn's eternal light.

No words were ever exchanged between the two, no whispers of comfort or wails of distress. They sat in companionable silence, Diamond stroking Ash's short hair as she listened to his strong and steady heartbeats. Soon Ash's eyes drifted closed, and his face danced beneath her eyelids.

Her lips quirked into a half smile as she admired the little of him she could see.

He didn't have to say a thing. Because his eyes, they said it all. More than words ever could. She finally understood the full significance of his wonderful, reassuring presence. In this ungodly hour, she realized what Diamond was to her.

He was her guardian angel, there to protect and defend her always, stand by her side no matter what the outcome. He would hold her hand and guide her through life as it threatened to move on without her.

He lived life unsaid. Maybe this gift would save them both in the end.

Before Diamond...there was really no way to reach her...because she was already gone...but maybe, with his help, his determination, honesty need not be feared as a friend or an enemy. Maybe she could learn to accept what happened, the fire, the deaths, the life she had almost given up in search of forgetting everything.

The girl called Green, the patient weed, who's expert touch could distinguish copper from gold, earth from ash. Green who was chosen to stay and tend the garden, who preferred stones to people. Green who could heal any plant, who could make anything grow.

That naïve, selfish girl was gone. She was Ash, one who hid in the shadows, one who wore a coat of armor and a scarf of black thorns. Ash who kept her broken heart guarded, Ash who could feel no pain.

And yet…

Maybe they could heal one another's wounds, and find a way to live above the ashes the fire left in its wake. And maybe, in exchange, he would teach her how to live again.

Fin

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A/N - written in one feverish night when the idea just struck me :P

Dedicated to Socheck, who's conversations always keep me thinking up countless insane stories...

Warning - reviews are not for the faint of heart! Be courageous and leave one here...

- Lux


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